Homeland returned to our screens with an introspective opener which suggests that this season’s main threat may come from within domestic borders as much as from external terrorists.

58 days later

Two months after the Langley bombing, Carrie and Saul are called in front of a hostile Senate subcommittee. Both play a dangerous game of obfuscating the truth to protect the CIA, whose credibility is in tatters. But someone is leaking information to both the investigators and the press which sets Carrie up as a potential scapegoat.

Saul hesitates before giving the kill order on a retaliatory operation targeting six key men responsible for the bombing. In Venezuela, Peter Quinn eliminates his target but accidentally kills a boy.

Carrie has stopped taking the medication for her biploar disorder, instead relying on exercise, meditation and tequila. Already under stress from perjuring herself, she sleeps with a random guy she meets at the liquor store.

Brody’s family struggles to make ends meet after losing his military benefits. Dana comes out of a treatment programme after attempting to commit suicide. She exchanges topless selfies with a boy she has grown close to there.

Brody himself? Nowhere to be seen.

Carrie is up in front of the Senate (Picture: Kent Smith/Showtime)

The enemy within?

The writers have followed through on their decision to split up Carrie and Brody – to the extent that Brody does not even appear in the episode.

Instead we have a new series of threats, almost all of them internal in some way. In place of Abu Nazir we have a new terrorist named Javadi, but the most immediate threat to the CIA is a domestic, political one, plus whoever is leaking information. (It’s too obvious to be Dar Adal, surely?)

Saul’s greatest enemy is his own ideals. He doesn’t believe the CIA should kill people and his instinct is to protect Carrie. But by the end he is forced to choose pragmatism over idealism.

Carrie’s greatest enemy is herself. Racked with guilt, she believes she is better off without her meds and her single-minded determination to prove Brody’s innocence underpins her reckless actions.

Quinn’s greatest enemy may be his own conscience. He nearly blows the wider mission by not wanting to kill a boy, and is overcome with remorse when he accidentally does so. WIll he be affected the same way Brody was by Nazir’s son Issa?

And the greatest enemy to the Brody family remains Dana, who has been set up in a variety of ways, from a possible resurfacing of her suicidal thoughts to the exploitation of her topless photos.

Brody is nowhere to be seen (Picture: Nadav Kander/Showtime)

This was an intriguing change of direction for the show. It remains character-driven but, aside from the multiple-kill mission, it feels more about inward-looking conspiracy threats than counter-terrorism activities, at least initially. No doubt the mysterious Javadi will emerge as a direct threat over time, but for now it seems that Carrie and Saul have more than enough battles to fight on the home front.

Homeland is back: not with a bang, but with an altogether more sinister whisper.

Best line

Carrie blames herself for the Langley bombing: “219 people dead at the CIA … I let it happen … It was right in front of my eyes and I never saw it coming.”

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